Mai Huyền Chi is a Vietnamese writer-director from Vietnam. Through her film and art endeavours, she focuses on re-imagining historical narratives and giving spaces and time for marginalized voices.
 

Chi's creative work encompasses both non-fiction and fiction genres. Her debut short documentary, "DOWN THE STREAM," was a finalist for Vimeo's Best of the Year in 2015 and featured on 88 Rising and AEON Video. Exploring the theme of statelessness further, she made the medium-length documentary "MY NAME IS," the short film "LUA," and is currently working on the feature film "THE RIVER KNOWS OUR NAMES." This feature has gained international recognition in various markets and labs, from Hong Kong, and Singapore to Europe. In 2024, it won the Tokyo Talents Award.

 

In 2025, Chi is finishing the medium-length documentary, 50 YEARS OF FORGETTING, investigating the legacy of the Vietnam War and the themes of remembering and forgetting. 

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As a writer, Chi's fiction work includes three films: the box office hit My Mr. Wife (Vietnam, 2018, Best Film, Vietnam’s Golden Kite Film Festival), A BRIXTON TALE (UK, 2022, Best Picture, Cineuropa Award, Festival International du Film de Mons) and THE GIRL FROM DAKLAK (Vietnam-Spain, 2022, Nominee, Best Feature Film, Silvestre Award, IndieLisboa). She also worked as a co-director of the latter. 

Besides directing and writing, in 2023, Chi served as the creative producer for WOMAN: PHU NU, an American feature-length documentary that delves into the complexities of Vietnamese women's identities in war and peace.

 

Chi is a published writer and photographer, a community arts worker, the former editor-in-chief at MSN Vietnam, a former journalist, and a former university lecturer at RMIT Vietnam.

 

Dedicated to fostering inclusivity and equitable representation in the arts, she is the founder and film programmer of CINEMA CNN (CINEMA OF THE PEASANTS), a grassroots initiative under A Sông Collective in Danang, Vietnam. Through curated screenings and discussions, CINEMA CNN champions local independent cinema, amplifying underrepresented voices and nurturing critical conversations about Vietnam’s people, history, and culture. 

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[SHOWS/ EXHIBITIONS/ RESIDENCIES/ PUBLIC TALKS]

• ON RECIPROCITY, seminar/ workshop/ residency hosted by Think * Think, Kuching, Malaysia

• FOR NOW I JUST FOCUS ON BEING NANA (A MEDIATION ON LIFE AND DEATH), "On Reciprocity" Group Exhibition, Think & Tink, Kuching, Malaysia, Mar-Jun 2025

• GRAPEVINE SELECTION (2024), video-performance (on-going)

• WHITE CALLS (2022-), video-performance (on-going)

• THREE ACTS (2021), video, Bar de Force & Goethe Institute

• WHEN YOU END AND I BEGIN (2021), web-based video performance, White Distance Residency, Heritage Space

• HER-STORY (2020), dance short, in collaboration with choreographer Sunyoung Grace Lim
  Arabesque Open Stage 2020

• X PROJECT (2019), dance teaser/ short, made for choreographer Ngo Thanh Phuong and X

• BECOMING SKY (2020), video installation, Heritage Space, Vietnam

• THE TALKS (2019-20) dance video/ multi-channel video installation
  CABCon 2020
  Arabesque Open Stage

• PALAO (2018), dance show teaser, Lune Productions​​

• IT’S A LIVING (2013), solo photo exhibition, Vietnam

• CHUNG TA DI (2011), group exhibition, photos, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada​​

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